Royal Doulton | Bunnykins | Dinner Plate | Fine Bone China | England, c.1936–1990s

The success of a kite depends on wind, string, and someone prepared to let go — the rabbits here appear to have all three.

Bunnykins was introduced by Royal Doulton in 1934, based on the drawings of Sister Mary Barbara Vernon, a Dominican nun whose scenes of rabbit families in domestic and outdoor settings became one of the factory’s most enduring designs. The copyright was registered in 1936 — a date carried across decades of production. The range remained in continuous manufacture for much of the twentieth century, its appeal grounded in the quiet narrative of its scenes.

This plate carries one of the more animated outdoor compositions, set against an open sky and driven by movement rather than stillness.

The plate is of the standard circular dinner form, with a wide flat rim and shallow central well. The scene depicts a kite-flying gathering: to the right, a father rabbit in a red jacket, yellow waistcoat and spectacles raises one arm, a closed black umbrella in the other. At centre, a mother rabbit in a blue polka-dot dress holds the kite strings, while a rabbit in pink moves beside her. To the left, another rabbit manages a second set of lines.

Above them, three kites pull against the sky — a yellow box kite, a blue diamond, and a pink diamond — their strings crossing and tangling in the wind. A bare-branched tree anchors the right side of the scene. At ground level, two mice — one in yellow, one in blue — are caught up in the disorder, with a small pink kite fallen between them. The rim carries the familiar procession of leaping hares against the white ground.

There are no chips, cracks, or crazing. The printed decoration remains vivid and well-defined throughout, with no fading to the central scene or border. The piece is in mint, unused condition.

Key Details

• Maker: Royal Doulton
• Pattern: Bunnykins — Kite Flying scene
• Form: Dinner plate
• Material: English fine bone china
• Backstamp: "Bunnykins" ® / © Royal Doulton Tableware Ltd 1936
• Diameter: 20.4 cm
• Height: 1.1 cm
• Weight: 280 g
• Condition: Mint; unused

Collector Appeal

Dinner plates within the Bunnykins range offer a broader surface for the narrative scenes, allowing for more detailed and animated compositions such as this. Examples in unused condition, with crisp decoration and no signs of wear, remain consistently appealing to collectors of Royal Doulton nurseryware. The combination of scale, clarity, and subject matter places pieces like this comfortably between functional object and display piece.

A scene like this depends on imbalance — the kites pulling one way, the rabbits another, and the outcome left somewhere in between.